


one perfect moment

by petitepineapple



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Good Bro Nino Lahiffe, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Lê Chiến Kim & Nino Lahiffe Friendship, Theatre, the theater camp au no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23727334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petitepineapple/pseuds/petitepineapple
Summary: When Marinette gets accepted to a prestigious theater intensive, she expected to learn a lot, get some experience and maybe make some new friends. This is what she got instead.(basically the theatre camp au no one asked for or wanted)
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Chloé Bourgeois, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Chloé Bourgeois & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Lê Chiến Kim, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. god i hope i get it-a chorus line

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: despite being a huge theater nerd, I've never been to any sort of theater camp. also I'm a techie so I might get some of the acting related details slightly wrong

Stepping through the door from the Parisian chaos into her mom's theater, Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. The ghost light sitting center stage provided the eerie luminescence that always brought the best memories of the theater back in her mind. As she crossed the stage to turn the house lights on, she was reminded of the time she spent with her friends laughing in the wings and laying around on the stage.

While searching the theater for her design binder and favorite character shoes, Marinette contemplated the coming weeks. It was nerve-wracking to be leaving the comfort of her family’s small theater in the 9th arrondissement but it was a huge opportunity for her to expand her drama experience and to make new friends as well. She had always dreamed of attending one of Monsieur Fu’s exclusive theatre intensives but between the extensive waiting list and the price, she never really thought it was in the cards for her. It was the most exciting opportunity yet the scariest thing she had ever done. What if she wasn't good enough? She knew she was a strong actress, but a lot of her big roles were in straight plays. What if she was an awful dancer or the choreography was too hard? Or if the directors hated her song choices and thought her voice was terrible and screechy?

Pushing her anxieties out of her mind, Marinette unlocked the costume room. And of course as soon as she opened the door, she saw them. Her costume binder was sitting open on the desk with pages strewn about from her last late night design spree and her character shoes were sitting neatly beside the chair along with her best sticker-covered water bottle. Sighing to herself, Marinette grabbed her things and took one last look around the theater. Finally, she walked back out the hallway to the back door and was greeted by the sight of her best friend loudly jamming out to the Mean Girls soundtrack.

When Alya caught sight of her, she immediately turned the music down and took her headphones out.

"Hey girl!" She greeted. "You excited?"

"Yeah. Nervous too, this is the most intense thing I've ever done for theatre. I mean, Mom's intense but Monsieur Fu is probably three times as intense. I wish you could go." Marinette replied.

"Me too, but I have to work. Plus, all the exciting stuff will be done by the adults there. The prestigious Monsieur Fu isn't going to let a bunch of teenagers build and design his set." Alya reminded as they began to make their way back towards Marinette's apartment. 

"No, but you could've done the tech or management program!" Marinette sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you have work and everything. I'll just miss you, and it'd be really nice to have a friend. The program is supposed to be so intense, I'm freaking out."

"I know, but you shouldn't be! You're an amazing actress, you can absolutely do this." They entered the small shop below the apartment and went up to the second floor. As they entered they were met with the smell of cookies that Monsieur Dupain-Cheng was baking.

"Hey Papa!" Marinette called. "Alya and I are heading up to my room so I can finish packing."

"Okay! These will be done in a half hour, I'll bring some up" He replied.

Once in her room, Marinette grabbed her half-packed suitcase while Alya plopped down on her bed.

"So do you really not know anyone who's going to this thing?" Alya asked.

"No, not really. Kim mentioned he may be going but I think he was torn because he also wanted to go to this fancy dance intensive in Switzerland. Other than him though, no one from our school or theater is going and I haven't heard anything about people from Beck or Pres Ouest going. So if Kim doesn't go, I'll be all by myself." Marinette was freaking out. The overall feeling of aloneness set in.

Sensing her anxiety, Alya grabbed Marinette's shoulders, looked her right in the eyes and said

"You can do this. You are one of the most talented people I have ever met, and those people over at this fancy intensive of yours certainly see it too. If they hadn't, they never would have invited you. Take some deep breathes. You can do this, and if you're lucky it might even be fun."

Marinette nodded. Alya was right, this was an amazing experience and someone at the intensive must have thought she had some talent because she was invited in the first place. She could do this, and it was going to be great.

* * *

The following day Marinette woke up almost vibrating from excitement and nerves. She quickly got dressed, grabbed her suitcases, and went down to the kitchen where her parents were waiting for her with breakfast. After they ate, they all walked down to the nearest Metro station, where Marinette was going to depart from.

"You have your ticket?" Madame Dupain-Cheng asked.

"Yes Maman" Marinette replied.

"And you're sure you're okay going by yourself? You don't want us to come and help carry your suitcases or check in or anything?" Her mother worried, while her father hovered nearby, waiting to hear what she needed.

"Yes Maman, I'll be fine. I'll be there in about an hour and I'll call you as soon as I get checked in." She promised. The ride wouldn't be long, just to the other side of Paris where a bus would meet her and any other students coming from within the city and take them to the school which was just outside the 16th arrondissement.

A voice announced the incoming line over the speakers.

"That's my train. I have to go." Her parents hugged her and then she got onto her train, nerves buzzing. It's finally time. _Okay. I can do this_ , Marinette thought as she made herself comfortable for the ride.

Thirty minutes later, they finally arrived at her stop. She hopped off the train, went up out of the station and found a small clump of kids, some around her age and some younger standing by what seemed to be a bus stop. _That's got to be them_ , she decided. Then, taking a second look she saw a tall boy with spiky hair.

"Kim?" Marinette called, hoping desperately it was so she'd at least have one friend at this camp. The boy turned and she saw it was definitely Kim.

"Marinette!” He rushed over. "Hey! I totally forgot you were doing this too. Man, if I'd have remembered we could've ridden here together. I'm so glad you're here dude!" 

"Yeah, me too! I can’t wait to get there!” She replied excitedly. Internally, she sighed with relief. _At least there will be one friendly face in the room when I inevitably trip over my choreography or stumble over my lines._

"I have to say, I'm a little nervous about how different this will be from any other shows I've done." Kim confessed.

"Oh thank god! I've been freaking out about that too. It's nice to know I'm not the only one." 

After chatting with Kim for a little while, the bus finally pulled up. All of the kids piled on and it sped off, not stopping until they were just outside Paris at a huge building with fancy looking glass front doors. Then, the bus emptied out and Marinette followed Kim inside to the check in desk. After they got their room assignments they went their separate ways, Marinette promising to stop by Kim’s room after they got all moved in and met their roommates.

Knocking on the door, Marinette steeled her nerves. _It’ll be okay, hopefully these girls are nice enough. Maybe we’ll even become good friends by the end of this thing._

A girl with short red hair opened the door.

"Oh, you must be our fourth roommate. Hi, I'm Alix, nice to meet you."

"Hey Alix! I'm Marinette."

"Do you need any help with your bags? You're the last one here so your bed is that one in the back, next to the bathroom." 

"No I don't need any help, thanks though. Are the other girls here right now?" Marinette asked while stepping in to the room. It was pretty large, with one bed in each corner of the room and a dresser and small desk next to each bed. The door was in the middle and opposing it there were three huge windows that went from the floor to the ceiling. 

"Nah, I'm the only one here right now, but the other girls seem pretty cool. Lila looks a little competitive but Chloe was nice enough." Alix replied. "I'm not quite sure where they went but we don't have to be downstairs until 6:00 for dinner and introductions."

"Oh great! I just hope we all get along." Marinette began to unpack her bags and set up her workspace. The desk would be perfect for working on designs in her free time, and she can send them back to her mom to check out how plausible they'd be for their next show. _Oh! Maman!_ she remembered. 

"Hey Alix, I need to call my parents and let them know I'm all checked in. I'm gonna step in to the bathroom, so if someone comes back, let them know I'm in here please!" 

"You got it."

Marinette shut the bathroom door and called her mother. They spoke for about 20 minutes and then Marinette walked back out into the main room. She was greeted by a familiar voice she hadn't heard in years.

"Whoa! What are you doing here?" it asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I know it's short, this was just kind of an intro. the next chapter should be up in a week or so, so hold out judgement until then please!!


	2. Nicest Kids In Town(Hairspray)

Chapter 2

“Oh my god! Nino!” Marinette almost squealed. Her best friend of six years  was flopped down in the middle of one of her roommate’s beds. “I had no idea you were going to be here!” 

Nino and Marinette had met in kindergarten. She was actually the one to convince him to audition for one of her mother’s musicals in the 7th grade. He moved away two years later, right before they started high school. They still texted but he never mentioned any sort of theater camps. Last she checked Nino planned on DJing and studying sound design in college. So, Marinette had assumed he’d stopped acting and kept to more of the tech side of things.

“Yeah well, you never mentioned it either!” He retorted while getting up to give her a gigantic hug. “So how are you? Still designing? What’s the next show your mom’s putting on?”

“Well I’m great now that I know I have a couple friendly faces around here, I actually came down on the bus with Kim. I’m definitely still designing. Right now, I’m trying to work on the costumes for Maman’s next show. It'll either be Bandstand or something else set in the 40s in America which is super exciting for me. I love those styles, especially the dresses. What about you? Still doing sound design? What about music, are you writing anything right now?” Marinette was somewhat rambling. Nino was about to launch into his spiel when another voice cut them off.

“Hey Nino, care to introduce your other friends?” A blonde girl with a ponytail teased.

Marinette’s mouth dropped open, “Chloe? I haven’t seen you in forever!” She rushed over and gave the girl a hug. Chloe made a face but  secretly she was enjoying seeing one of her best friends again.

"It's good to see you. By the way, we're roommates!" Chloe told her once Marinette released the hug. Chloe had been auditioning at Marinette’s mother’s theater since she was three. The two had become fast friends and Nino had joined the crew with ease a few years later. But, the Bourgeois family was very wealthy and Chloe’s mother was a successful actress. It was no surprise when Chloe stopped going to school and began auditioning for movies and tv shows. She still made time to perform at some of the bigger theaters in Paris though. They hadn’t lost touch though. Every time Chloe was in the city and had free time, she made an effort to come see Marinette and her family. But, they text the way they did before Chloe left school, and Chloe’s presence was a complete surprise.

“Oh, Marinette, before I forget, this is Adrien.” Chloe introduced. “He’s been a family friend since forever, and now he and Nino go to the same school.”

Marinette’s jaw almost dropped again. A hot blonde boy who could’ve been Chloe’s brother waved  shyly ,

“Umm, hi Marinette, nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you!”

“Hi! It’s super nice to meet you!" She replied. "What are you involved with? Set design? Directing? Choreography? or do you only act? That's cool too, if you  just act. I was only wondering because I know Chloe, Nino and I all  are interested in tech as well."

"Um, I write a little. And I guess I'd like to do some set design or lighting if given the chance. I've never thought about it much. My dad's a director so he kind of expects me to be one too, once I'm finished acting." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck like he was a bit nervous.

"Cool! My mom's a director too! She runs a small theater in downtown Paris. That's actually how I met these guys. Chloe and I actually put on our first show together when we were five.  It featured two beautiful princesses who rescue their idiot best friend from a dragon ."

"Hey!" Nino protested. "It's not like you gave me much choice! I would've fought the dragon too if you had given me a chance."

"Yeah, but you would've lost. That's why we had to take care of it, as the most capable and beautiful princesses in the land." Chloe teased him, smiling in a way she hadn't in a while. Adrien  was amazed . After ten minutes, Marinette had brought out the best in both of his best friends.  I'm going to want to get to know this girl, he thought.

Marinette wanted to know what her best friends had been up to. "So, you guys heard what I've been up to, how about you? Any new projects, Chloe? How about you, Nino, any new gigs?"

"Well, Adrien and I were going to  be booked in a new teen drama but the script was awful. I decided I'll be doing theater only until I get an interesting enough script.  I'm not about to be in some half-done  badly written cash grab tv show if I can be in a run of Almost Maine or Dear Evan Hansen or something . Plus I'd like to direct or stage manage again sometime soon. I haven't been able to since our run of  Legally Blonde a few years ago."

"Dude! After this, we should do a show at the theater together, all of us!" Nino clearly was excited at the prospect. "Imagine it! We could get the crew back together, everyone who did shows with us when we were kids! Kim, Juleka, Rose, Alya, everyone!"

Marinette laughed. "That would be fun. A lot of them still do shows with me so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch. Actually, did you know Kim is here?" 

"Hey wait, a guy named Kim is one of our roommates," Adrien volunteered. "I thought it was a typo or something but I guess not."

"Kim's great." Marinette said. "He's great actor but his specialty is dance and he's amazing. He choreographs sometimes and he's been a dance captain in a ton of my mom's shows."

"Speaking of roommates, though, have you met the rest of our roommates, Marinette?" Chloe asked. 

"Well I met Alix when I got here, and  obviously I've met you, but I haven't seen our fourth roommate. Do you know who she is?"

At that moment, the door to their dorm opened and a girl walked in. 

"Rossi?" Chloe asked with shock evident in her voice.

"Ugh, Bourgeois and friends. I should've known. And who are you, girl?" The girl, Rossi, addressed Marinette. "Guess it doesn't matter, I suppose I'm stuck with you. But stay out of my way.  I'm only bothering to attend this thing because Monsieur Fu  personally requested my presence . We're very close, you know." 

She then grabbed an expensive looking handbag and walked out. Before closing the door, she called, "Bye Adrien, good to see you again!"

"Whoa, that was.. Well, she sure was something!" Marinette tried to laugh but it came out forced. "So, I guess you guys have met her before?"

"Yeah she's the worst. Her name is Lila Rossi and she's a chronic liar and major diva." Nino explained. "She and Chloe have been on bad terms since Chloe got a role in some tv show over her, and she always flirts with Adrien. She's bad news."

"And she doesn't know Monsieur Fu, Fu is an acquaintance of my mom's, he was her acting teacher forever ago. Actually, I bet he knows your mother as well Marinette. Anyway, Lila  just likes to lie to seem important, and she's willing to cheat and sabotage for roles. If you can, Marinette, you should try not to make an enemy of her. She already hates me so I can't do much about it, but if you can stay out of her line of fire, try to." Chloe warned. If this Lila girl was bad enough to make Chloe cautious, she must be scary.

"Chloe's right, if Lila finds a reason to dislike you, she will hold that grudge. She does a lot of work for my father and she's always that unpleasant." Adrien added his two cents. "Anyway,  I think we're supposed to meet the directors at dinner tonight." 

"I am so excited to meet the directors! I'm so nervous about the auditions though.  Honestly , I've never auditioned for anyone that wasn't my mom before." Marinette confessed. "What show do you think we'll be doing?"

"Don't worry, Mari, you'll do great." Nino reassured.

"Cut the crap Mari, you're an amazing actress and you  absolutely know it. Quit fishing for compliments."  Chloe, though blunt, was always genuine in her compliments, and Marinette knew not to take them for granted . "Anyway, have you unpacked your stuff yet? Because I want to get to dinner and I'm taking these two goons with me."

"Uh, I'm not quite done, but I'm sure I can do it later or something." Marinette checked her phone. It was almost 5 and she  was starting to get hungry, after not having since that morning.

"Great. Let's go kiddies." Chloe flipped her hair and sashayed out the door.  The remaining three laughed and followed suit, making their way downstairs and into a large hall .  It was full of circular tables and there were stations for different cuisines around the room . On one side there was a podium on a low stage.  There weren't too many kids yet, but the introductory dinner was going to start in a bit so Marinette expected there would be a rush coming in soon . They grabbed a table closer to the stage and began chatting.

"What show do you think we'll do?" Nino asked.

"I'm not sure,  I think there will be some sort of "pre-audition" test to see what our capabilities are and they'll let us know after that . I hope that it's something interesting and not too weird like Cats." Adrien commented.

"Do you have any shows you want to do? What are your dream roles?" Marinette wondered.

"Well I always like doing golden age shows, like My Fair Lady or West Side Story but if we got to do something like Footloose or Spamalot .  I'm trying to brainstorm ensemble-heavy musicals because Monsieur Fu  probably wants to include everyone . I don't  really have a dream role though, I've done too many shows for that.  Maybe Emmett from  Legally Blonde? I haven't done that one because my dad thinks he's not a "true" lead because the show is about Elle." 

"That's dumb, Gabriel's always been too uptight. Plus, he should know that women can do anything and that Elle's a badass. She's one of my dream roles, along with Regina George, Captain  Beverly Bass and Velma Kelly." Chloe, the resident blonde said. 

"Donkey from Shrek has always looked fun to me. Plus Randall from Bring It On because I have to rep a fellow DJ." Nino isn't one for the classical shows, he prefers the musicals with more of a hip hop sound.

"My ultimate dream role is Eurydice. Oh and Sophie in Mamma Mia! And Judy  Bernly ! Oh my gosh and Julia Trojan! Oh and-"

Chloe cut her off. "We get it, you have a lot of dream roles." She said, laughing. "But the directors are coming."

The cafeteria had filled in around them without them noticing, and time passed quicker than Marinette thought . The four looked over at the adults who would be leading them for the next 6 weeks. There were six people walking in, three men and three women. Marinette recognized one of the women  instantly .

"Oh hey, that's Tikki! I didn't know she'd be here." Marinette commented to Nino.  Tikki had been an actress in Marinette's family's shows for five or six years until she graduated and went off to university . But she was also an amazing seamstress and costume designer. Tikki was the reason that Marinette got into design in the first place. They worked on a production of Big Fish together when Marinette was eleven and still learning how to sew. One day Marinette was hanging around the theater and Tikki needed someone to pin things for her. The two hit it off right away and Tikki took her under her wing for the rest of the production.  During the next show, Tikki showed Marinette how to plan out a design pattern and express the characters through their costumes . After that, Marinette  was hooked . She and Tikki worked on every show together up until Tikki went to college. They hadn't worked together in years, but Marinette made a point to try and see any project of Tikki's that she could. And, every once in a while, Tikki would appear at the theater and they would catch up to talk about all their projects.

"Yeah! I haven't seen her in a while. It looks like they're going to introduce themselves." 

Nino was right. the directors had filed on to the small stage and Monsieur Fu had stepped up to the podium in the center of it. He cleared his throat and the room quieted down. 

"Hello! I am Monsieur Fu." He began. "Welcome to the River Theatre Intensive. I'm so glad to have you all here, so let's get started. First, allow me to introduce your directors for the next six weeks. To my left, we have Wayzz, he is my assistant director for this program."

Wayzz waved.  He was tall and pale with blond hair and was wearing a long green cardigan with a pale yellow undershirt and grey pants .

"Then we have Trixx."  A shorter, dark haired woman dressed in an orange t-shirt, a bomber jacket and ripped jeans smiled at them with a glint in her eye . "She is your choreographer."

"Next to Trixx is Pollen." Pollen stepped forward and waved as well. She was tall with long curly hair, and wore a cute yellow dress that Marinette knew Chloe was eyeing. "She is one of your designers, focused on set and sound."

"After Pollen is Plagg."  A short man dressed in all black with messy black hair and a mischievous smile looked out over the crowd as if evaluating them . "He is our technical director."

"and last but not least, we have Tikki, your costume designer." Tikki was smiling and waved when she made eye contact with Marinette. She was wearing a stylish black shirt with a red polka dot skirt and her bright red hair was up in a stylish bun. 

"Now, you'll have some time to meet with  all of us tomorrow before our evaluations begin. Until then, allow me to fill you all in on our schedule. We will begin evaluations at 9 am tomorrow, starting with the dance evaluation. After dance, we will do our acting evaluations and then end with vocals which should end around 5:30. Dinner will  be served starting at 6:00 and after dinner we will announce the show. After we've announced it, you will have one day to prepare for auditions. Use tonight and tomorrow morning to mingle and get to know your fellow students. I'm looking forward to seeing what you all can do." He finished and the directors took their seats.

"Whoa, tomorrow is a full day." Marinette commented and Nino agreed. 

"Not as full as it could be, though. I'm glad we're starting at 9, but I bet it's the latest we'll start for the rest of the intensive." Adrien said.

"Yikes. Well I guess we better go back to our rooms and hang out for a little bit and then go to bed early and get some sleep then?"

"No way! If this is the latest we'll get to sleep, we should live it up.  I think one of the dorms are having a "get together" to get to know people. We should go." Nino  was excited and Adrien seemed to be on board as well.

"I agree, there's not a chance that I'm going to bed early." Chloe added. "If you want to go back to the room Mari, I guess you can but I bet no one will be there." 

"No, there's no way I'm going." Marinette  was determined not to let Chloe sway her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw the kwami descriptions are loosely based off of this post by leechee doodles on tumblr! https://leecheedoodles.tumblr.com/post/181142092038/thought-i-should-show-the-human-kwamis-height


End file.
